Back in April, we discussed our initial rollout of the credit and refund feature set for Clover. On September 1st, Commerce Sync will be releasing a number of enhancements to our refund functionality for Clover and Stripe merchants using QuickBooks Online, namely Refund Receipt.

What is a refund receipt?

Until now, all QuickBooks refund activity has been transferred as a Credit Memo. Starting September 1st, all QuickBooks Online refund activity will be transferred as a Refund Receipt. Here is a visual comparison of a Credit Memo and Refund Receipt based on the same Clover sales information:

Credit Memo

Refund Receipt

What does it mean for my accounting?

The Refund Receipt provides all of the information you’re used to receiving on a Credit Memo, plus it includes the payment method of the refund and the Clearing Account where the refund is applied (subtracted).

You will receive a Refund Receipt whether the refund occurred:

  • On the same day of the sale (same-day)
  • On a day after the sale (subsequent-day)
  • For the full amount of the original sale (full refund)
  • For an amount less than that of the original sale (partial refund, including "split refunds")

The chief advantage of the Refund Receipt is that it balances the Chart of Accounts in a way that Credit Memos do not.

Refunds for Stripe Customers

Until now, Commerce Sync has only transferred same-day full and partial Stripe Refunds alongside all charges for a given day. As part of the Refund Receipt feature for QuickBooks Online users, Commerce Sync will now transfer both same-day and subsequent-day refunds - whether full or partial - separate from sales information. Here is an example subsequent-day partial Stripe refund:

StripeRR4

Refunds for Clover Customers

Until now, Commerce Sync has only transferred subsequent day Clover refunds; and same-day refunds have been netted out of the sales totals. The new refund enhancement will include the transfer of same-day refunds separate from sales.

We’ve also included a special enhancement for our Sales by Category customers. For full refunds (i.e., covering the entirety of a Clover order), any Category or Label information transferred with the original order (enabling us to map to categories in the Chart of Accounts) will also be transferred on the refund. Here is an example Refund Receipt with Sales by Category enabled:

But wait, there’s more!

Also as of September 1st:

  • Settings previously referred to as "Credits and Returns" will now be referred to as "Refunds." For example, the default (negative) income account for Clover will be "Clover Refunds." Of course, you can change this at any time, and existing users are not affected by this change.
  • All refunds will be transferred individually, rather than rolling up multiple refunds in a day into a summary.
  • While Refund Receipt is currently only available for QuickBooks Online users at this time, all of the additional enhancements apply to QuickBooks Desktop and Xero users as well. We’re also working hard on additional refund enhancements for QuickBooks Desktop and Xero users in the coming months.

If you have any questions, or want to know more about refunds, don't hesitate to contact us!